The European Commission has today been granted a mandate by European Union transport ministers to open negotiations on an ambitious air transport agreement with Brazil. Brazil is by far the largest air transport market in South America with more than four million passengers carried in 2009 on flights between the EU and Brazil. An EU-wide air transport agreement with Brazil is expected to generate significant economic benefits to businesses, travellers and the EU and Brazilian aviation industries and wider economies.

Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport said: "I am very pleased with the unanimous support from Member States to grant us a negotiating mandate for Brazil. Brazil is a strategically important and fast-growing market. An EU-wide agreement with Brazil will no doubt increase the number of flights and the range of services at the most competitive prices between Brazil and the EU. This will create significant new opportunities for our industry as well as benefits for the travelling public."

Negotiations will aim at opening market access for airlines and achieving a high level of regulatory convergence in areas such as security, environmental aspects or consumer protection. According to an economic impact assessment study, an agreement with Brazil could generate up to €460 million consumer benefits a year. The potential for traffic growth is estimated at 335,000 additional passengers in the first year.

The timing of the negotiating mandate is excellent when considering that Brazil will host the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016. An EU-Brazil air transport agreement will gradually open the market while strengthening regulatory cooperation in key areas such as safety, security, environment and competition.

In recent years, Brazil has developed an excellent cooperation with the EU in the field of aviation. On 14 July 2010, an agreement was signed between Brazil and the EU that ensures non-discriminatory treatment for all EU airlines. An aviation safety agreement was also signed which will strengthen technical cooperation in all areas of aviation safety. On 25 and 26 May this year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil hosted the first-ever EU–Latin America Civil Aviation Summit which brought together aviation leaders from Europe and Latin America.

Negotiations with Brazil are going to start in the coming weeks.

The EU has already comprehensive air transport agreements in effect with the United States, Canada, Morocco and the Western Balkan countries. Today, the EU Transport Council authorised the signature of the recently negotiated air transport agreements with Jordan and Georgia respectively.